A beginner’s guide to conducting ASO 

Once you have found an app developer, decided on a design and eagerly awaited the completion of your new business app, you might think that the bulk of the hard work is done. While this is certainly a milestone, it’s not time to sit back and wait for users to find your new iOS, Android or Progressive Web App (PWA). Rather, it’s time to roll out phase two – ASO.

If you’re new to App Store Optimisation (or ASO as it’s also known) it may help to think of it as the app version of SEO. While you’re likely well versed in the need to optimise your website content and blog posts to help with search engine rankings, ASO might be something of an unknown, especially if you’re having an app built for your business for the first time. In its most basic form, you can think of ASO as SEO for your app – a series of actions you’ll take over a period of time to gain the best possible listing in the App Store of your choice.

So, what’s ASO and how do you do it?

As a business with a new app to promote, it stands to reason that you’ll want to appear as highly as possible in the App Store. The higher your app ranks, the more downloads you’re likely to accrue. With users most likely to head to an app store or marketplace to find an app rather than a search engine, ASO is a critical part of your app’s marketing strategy.

Much like Google, the App Store has its own set of criteria which it users to determine where your app should rank. Things like titles, descriptions, icons and ratings are all important and if you get them right, can help your app to climb the App Store results in your desired category.

·Use keywords in your title where possible

·The placement of keywords and density of keywords is also important

·Create an eye-catching, memorable and distinctive icon to help drive downloads and make your app easy to recognise

·Solicit reviews and feedback through a range of channels, including via push notifications on your app. Much like in regular SEO for your website, the greater the number of positive reviews you have, the better your ranking. This also helps to incentivise other users to download your app, with modern day consumers as trusting of online reviews as personal recommendations

·Use all of the other marketing channels at your disposal, such as your website, email newsletter and social media profiles to promote your app and encourage downloads